CU3E

"Cu3e" is the 3rd full-length studio album by French progressive doom/death metal act Supuration. The album was released through Listenable Records in February 2013. It's been 10 years since the release of the band's 2nd full-length studio album "Incubation (2003)", which itself was curiously enough released 10 years after the release of the band's debut full-length studio album "The Cube (1993)". It appears that Supuration have settled for a 10 year release cycle, but of course many of the intermediate years have been spend on (among other things) their other progressive extreme metal project S.U.P., so it's not like they haven't been active.

Considering the fact that there are 10 years between the band's album releases it's actually amazing how consistent in style and quality all three albums are, because "Cu3e" pretty much continues where "Incubation (2003)" left off. The band have tweaked their sound enough for "Cu3e" to stand out as an individual sounding release though but the band's take on progressive death metal is intact. It's still a rather alien sounding type of metal featuring both death, doom, goth and progressive metal elements. The riffs are often dissonant and Voivod is as always a valid reference, but the Paradise Lost (early) influence is still there too. The material aren't overtly complex, but neither is it instantly accessible. "Cu3e" does require more than one spin to sink in.

Supuration are seasoned musicians and everything is delivered with conviction and passion. The vocals are both growling and clean, but mostly growling. The sound production is powerful and suits the music well. I guess the tracks could have been slightly more catchy, which would have meant that they would have stood out more from each other, but that's about the only issue I have with "Cu3e". Otherwise it's a great album with a great atmosphere and if they maintain this quality level, I guess I can live with waiting another 10 years for the band's next album to be released. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.